I have been reading quite a few articles lately in which the individuals (politicians, bureaucrats and just ordinary citizens) are asked about various issues related to the presidential campaigns. One answer I have heard quite a bit is simply that “the government” should do something. Sometimes the issues are even cast in terms of a […]
Archives
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Frederic Bastiat as Prophet
28 Feb 2016
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At the Democratic candidate debate last week, Bernie Sanders was asked how big government should be. His response was illuminating, as was Hillary Clinton’s response to Sanders’ answer. Here is part of what he said: WOODRUFF: “And, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let’s get right to the questions. Senator […]
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President Obama and Executive Power
25 Jan 2016
In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Herbert Hoover for the presidency of the United States. In his campaign, he had promised American voters a “New Deal.” Little known to most Americans today, Hoover had prepared the way for Roosevelt’s New Deal with several initiatives like the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and public works like the Boulder […]
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Bernie Sanders Looks to Sweden
20 Oct 2015
In the recent Democratic Party debate Bernie Sanders told us we should look to Sweden, Denmark and Norway to see how a successful democratic socialist economic system works. I have heard others say the same thing. Even some conservatives have argued that socialism of the democratic kind works pretty well in those Scandinavian countries. Rich […]
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The European Disease
07 Sep 2015
If there is anything more representative of the immense waste, bureaucratic elitism and arrogance, it is this report of the erection of a new, decorative statue of a tree outside the new European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. The statue, ostensibly of a Walnut tree, cost about $1 million in American dollars. The tree […]
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Reason.com of August 16, 2015 has a very interesting article on occupational licensing by J. D. Tuccille. Occupational licensing is the requirement that individuals desiring to enter certain lines of work or service first obtain extensive and expensive training and also pay a licensing fee, sometimes quite high, in order to legally enter. Failure to […]
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Technocracy and Human Flourishing
03 Aug 2015
During the Obama administration, and especially the last five years after the passage of Obamacare, we have seen numerous attempts, some successful and others still in the process, to impose more Federal top-down regulations on all sorts of human activities. Besides Obamacare and its 15,000 pages of regulations, we have the massive regulatory scheme flowing […]
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They Are Singing the Blues, Maybe
09 Jul 2015
Here is a summary of a study by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University on the fiscal situation of liberal states. It looks like liberal states are predominantly profligate. And how well are their citizens faring? Take a look—and read the entire study. Maybe these states might want to consult Greece (?). This summary […]
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Pope Francis issued his long-awaited encyclical today, entitled, Ladato Si or “Praise to You [O Lord].” The 183 page document is concerned with the environment and more specifically with global climate change. I am in the process of making my way through it, but have a few initial comments get things going. First, the Pope […]
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There is another new book out on the alleged problem of inequality. This one is by Anthony Atkinson, a British scholar who wrote Inequality: What Can Be Done? The book was just released so I haven’t had the chance to read it yet, but Richard Epstein, a legal and economic scholar with New York University […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach